April Intro: Better Get to Digging

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: APRIL

Who: New arrivals, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: April 4th and onward
Where: Cahypdo
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Waking up to the gentle proddings of what appears to be very curious, sentient trees isn't the worst wake up call LifeAftr has to offer. For our newest arrivals, however, it may be a tad…odd.

Situated in the valley between two mountains, Elower is a scenic village filled with the friendly Roaka, tree-like beings that are rather peaceable and happy to assist those who have just arrived. I'’s a peaceful location for one to start their adventures - though, unfortunately, it doesn't stay peaceful for long.

Cahypdo: You'll Bury Me Low
Those who have explored the new island of Cahypdo in the last month will undoubtedly recall the series of quakes that shook the island throughout March. With the arrival of LifeAftr's newest adventurers comes Cahypdo's largest tremor to date, striking without warning and more than enough force to throw even the steadiest and sturdiest of your number to the ground. With a low rumble, the mountains heaped on either side of the island will start to shed an abundance of slag and debris, pouring down their slopes. Anyone who's scaling those peaks risks being flung bodily off them when the outpouring of shale comes roaring down those mountains, and anyone at the mountain bases risks being crushed beneath.

As one might expect, unsuspecting newcomers aren't all that have been shaken up. Though protected by netting and retaining walls, the cliffs around and above the village of Elower can only take so much pressure before giving way - a threshold that has been crossed entirely. With a sound like thunder, rocks fall.

Everyone dies? Only if you don't act quickly. Roaka housing is sturdy in build, enough to protect a decidedly less sturdy body from all but the heaviest of boulders. Hiding inside any of their village constructs built into the sides of the mountains will certainly save you from taking a new weight onto your shoulders. They will not, however, save you from being buried alive.

For those who become trapped inside any of those abodes, your options appear limited. Work to free yourself, or wait for help to arrive. Though, speaking of help, those outside may think to offer the Roaka a helping hand in getting their trapped people - and yours, at that - a few breaths of fresh air.

Before you suffocate.

Cahypdo: Stay Acting Brave
Such seismic activity will also stir up the local wildlife, of course. Those unfortunate enough to come across them will recognize the restless shark-dragon hybrids, hydrac, now prowling across the shorelines, while the wickedly fanged wabbits will also be far more frequent, traveling in larger numbers in the jungle and at the bases of the mountains. Taking care to avoid them would be wise - though another creature may make that venture much more difficult.

Lorbies have been unlocked in the bestiary! A strange mix between owl and serpent, the recent quake has clearly startled these usually reclusive creatures into the open. Alone, a lorby is a rather skittish animal, prone to hiding from most perceived threats. Useless for food due to the toxicity of their flesh, lorbies do have the potential to be tamed...but this comes with its own risks.

A lorby may be prone to flight rather than fight when encountered solo, but in groups, these feathery critters are far more hostile. A defensive lorby emits a piercing cry alone, but a group is an almost ear-piercing experience, capable of rendering the unfortunate unstable on their feet at best, and unconscious at worst. For the days that follow the severe earthquake that so rocked everyone's foundations, any hope for silence is lost in the infrequent bursts of almighty screeching by colonies of lorbies who have so rudely had their homes overturned and disturbed.

While the lorby is omnivorous, it may not think to take a bite at anything so much larger than them. That doesn't mean that conflict with these fluffy creatures won't attract something much more willing to take advantage of the fact that you may or may not have been reduced to a prone sack of meat. If something else does arrive, you best hope that it's a friendly face.

If you're interested in keeping a lorby for your own, bear LifeAftr's companion limit in mind - two per character, and no more. The lorby is omnivorous and can survive off of most odds and ends: insects, fruits, berries, critters it can dig up in the sand, and more. However, the process of trying to tame a lorby is not always successful. We recommend use of a d10, with the following guidelines:

Rolling a 10: Critical success! This lorby will love and adore you, and may even feel comfortable enough to drape itself along your neck like a beautiful, furry scarf, churring softly all the way.
Rolling 7-9: This lorby will prove high-strung and timid, even if safely befriended, and will take several weeks to warm up to you. But once it does, it's yours!
Rolling 2-6: Failure. The lorby enters a state of distress and starts screaming. Hope you brought earplugs, or you'll be snoozing for several long hours for your efforts.
Rolling a 1: Critical failure. Not only does the lorby start screaming, but its panic attracts a colony of its friends, and they all start screaming too.

Bear in mind that these are only guidelines; you are free to predetermine successes or failures as you'd like, presuming your character can sustain the companion! Our discord channel has a room for dice-rolls, if you prefer.

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All new arrivals will awake with knapsacks, their names stitched to the front. The contents of said knapsacks can all be found in your acceptance notices!

As a final note to those who participated in the Test Drive Meme, bear in mind that those threads, if all parties involved would like, can be game canon in the form of dream-like memories involving a place very much like this one, though the layout is considerably different.

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Feeling a tad adrift? Make sure to check the Locations Page, which has details regarding the starting areas and a handy map for those who feel better with a bird's eye view!

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[vagabone]

[Her phrasing is... kind of strange. Consider him stumped. Llama? Goat? Something else bizarre and otherworldly??]

Beats me. Are we talking llamas, or...

[goat_mom]

[And immediately, she says:] A di-llama!

[She giggles at her own terrible joke.]

[vagabone]

[He snerks, rather understated compared to her outburst of laughter. Hah.]

Why do skeletons hate rainy days?

[goat_mom]

[Oh, this is making her nostalgic. A skeleton sharing skeleton-themed jokes with her! The only difference is it's not behind a giant several ton door.]

I do not know. Why?

[vagabone]

Because they get soaked to the bone.

[Equally lame, and shame on her if she expected better.]

[goat_mom]

[She only laughs, although not as hard as the first time.]

"Soaked to the bone!" An excellent joke!

I have my own skeleton joke. [She ahems, trying to look serious.] What line did the skeleton actor say?

[vagabone]

[And here he thought he knew every dumb skeleton joke there is. He shrugs!]

...Break a leg?

[goat_mom]

[Hang out with a skeleton and you make a lot of skeleton puns.]

Tibia or not tibia!

[And she laughs again.]

[vagabone]

[Live in a city that's all skeletons and the idiotic puns never stop.]

Psh. Okay. Why do birds fly south for the winter? [A beat. They're reaching peak stupidity here.] Because it's easier than walking.

[goat_mom]

[She laughs at that too, even though it's not a pun.]

Very good! [She has to think for a second about the next one.] Why did the skeleton not like their mother? [Beat.] Because she was very stern to 'em!

[vagabone]

[Eh, they don't need to be puns to be punny.]

What's the least spoken language in the whole world? Sign language.

[goat_mom]

[She doesn't laugh, if only because several of her children have spoken in sign language.]

Hmm. I am not sure that I like that one.

[vagabone]

No? [Huh. Some people use it here, and he's learning a bit of it, but... still funny.]

Because nobody speaks it, get it?

[goat_mom]

Oh, no, I understand the humor... I just think it is a bit... offensive? I have communicated with many children who can only speak in sign language. I am not sure they would be fond of such a joke.

[vagabone]

[Touchy subject, alright, he'll file that away--he has half a million of those himself.]

Ah. Okay. Sorry.

[Well, he seems sincere enough... but that doesn't make it any less awkward.]

[goat_mom]

You are fine, dear Héctor. Thank you kindly for the apology.

[It is a bit awkward, so she tries to change the subject.]

You remind me of a dear friend of mine. He is very much like you.

[vagabone]

[That can't say anything good about her 'dear friend'--just look at him, with great big holes in his pants, dingy yellowed bones, and no shoes. He blinks, taken aback, and making his eyesockets look empty (like they should be) for a second.]

Who's that?

[goat_mom]

[No worries, Héctor, her "dear friend" is also pretty filthy.

She blinks in surprise when Héctor's eyes momentarily disappear, but then laughs.] Like that, you look even more like him! Hehehe!

His name is Sans. He is a skeleton, like you, though... not quite as tall. He is very fond of jokes and puns. We used to spend all day sharing jokes through the Ruins door - much like you and I shared jokes today.

[vagabone]

[He has one question and he's not holding back--]

Why not... open the door? Or should I not ask? [Too late, he did.] Anyway, I said I met Papyrus, right? Real nice guy. He'd stop by and tell me bedtime stories--how cute is that?

[goat_mom]

[She frowns.] That is not something I wish to discuss.

Oh, yes, that is right! You did mention Papyrus before. He always did strike me as a very kind person, from how Sans spoke of him. Bedtime stories... that is adorable!

[vagabone]

[And now he's full of wild and crazy ideas--were she and Sans in some kind of prison?? Toriel, secret criminal mastermind?? Sans... not so secret lowlife scum??]

Oh, yeah, I heard about that fluffy bunny a hundred times. [...This is probably him exaggerating, but who knows with Papyrus?] And it was nice to have another skeleton around.

[goat_mom]

[It's probably not an exaggeration.]

Ah, you mean "Peak-A-Boo With Fluffy Bunny"? I was quite fond of reading that book to my children... and yet, strangely, they were rarely fond of it in return.

And, yet, it does not surprise me that Papyrus would be. From the way Sans spoke of him, he did seem to possess the heart of a child.

[vagabone]

[What does that say about Héctor, that he put up with the same stupid story over and over? Pathetic, lonely, or pathetically lonely despite all the friendly people around. Har har har.]

Eh, I can see how it'd get boring after a while. You have kids?

[He says, totally oblivious to the accidental pun.]

[goat_mom]

[She nods.] I have had many children. [And, calmly:] And I have lost many children.

[vagabone]

[He jolts, sending his ribs rattling up and down like loose teeth underneath his joke shirt. A doozy of a bombshell, Toriel, and said so casual. But... there's something to be said for being honest. He's looking straight ahead in a distant way, instead of looking at her. So, so many children gone. Only he remains, hanging by a thread, shambling around in tattered pants and uncombed hair.]

Yeah. I... So have I.